Our week in Los Alamos

Monday September 21 2015

The family is back to their normal routine of work for the parents and Nursery School for Marcus and Evan. Millie and I tinkered around the house a little bit, Millie inside, I used a pressure cleaner to clean spider webs from around the exterior of the house.

Everyday we are here we walk Maggie either on the tails or in the neighborhood, in the afternoon we visit with the grand kids.

Tuesday Sept 22 2015

We drove down the mountain to Santa Fe for some supplies from Walmart and Home Depot. We had lunch at the Horseman's Haven, a locals favorite that has some really good Mexican dishes.

Wednesday Sept 23 2015

We took Rae Anne's car for an oil change, while in town we went to a Verizon store where I changed my phone plan to one of the new no contract plans. It should save us lots of money. In the afternoon I washed the motorhome.

 

Thursday Sept 24 2015

Once upon a time a beautiful princess inherited her fathers 57 Dodge truck, but alas she now lived thousands of miles from where the truck was. The princess had many cherished memories of her family driving to their summer estate (run down farm) in the Dodge. Her father had restored it to pristine condition and she was unwilling to part with it, so it was stored in a barn for many many years. At times over the years someone would discover the red truck and offer to buy it, but the answer was always no. 

There was a dream of shipping it to the princesses mountain palace but over time it became less and less likely that the truck would make the trip. And you know it's true, you can't go home again, it just wouldn't be the same after all the years and tear's. The princess had a family of her own and the memories of the farm had faded to the back of her busy life.

Eventually a decision had to be made about the truck and although it was a difficult step to take, the one thing the princess was adamant about was that no one ever drive the truck again. So one day in May Millie and I met the man from the junk yard at the barn. The old truck was carefully pulled from it's shelter. 

Under the thick covering of dust the old truck was in remarkable condition and I'm sure it could have been driven with a few minor repairs. It did make one last road trip, on a roll back wrecker to the salvage yard where it was crushed. As the princess wished, no one will ever drive the truck again.

Wanting to save some small mementos I removed a few items before the tow truck arrived. Millie and I crafted them into a piece of Contemporary art? Garage art? We're not really sure what to call it but we brought it with us on this trip and presented it to the princess. She wanted in her exersize room so today we hung it, high because of the two rambunctious 5 year olds and secure because it has a bit of weight to it.

The truck is gone, never to be driven again, the princess has her memories. Everyone lived happily ever after. The end.

Friday Sept 25 2015

Millie and Rae Anne went to Santa Fe for a mother daughter shopping day. I changed the oil in the motorhome and cleaned the drive of pine needles that a stiff breeze had shook from the trees last night. After lunch I drove up town to AutoZone for some materials for a motorhome project.

Saturday Sept 26 2015

Everyone went to Santa Fe for brunch at Wecks, a western chain restaurant which is a favorite of Millie's family. The children are now 4 ½ and 5 and I could definitely see a big change in them. Well behaved in the restaurant, everyone enjoyed our time together. 

Afterwards Dave took the kids to a park to run off some energy and Millie, Rae Anne and I went to a Mexican Pottery store which we had seen on the way to the restaurant. Interesting stuff but we didn't buy anything. First, I don't think southwestern décor would go well with our beach casual condo furnishings and second we have reached the tipping point when it comes to stuff, if we bring anything home, somethings got to go to make room for it.

We drove to old town Santa Fe but the town was so full of tourists there was absolutely no parking anywhere so we didn't stop to walk around. But like I said we don't need or have room for anything anyway.

In the afternoon I completed a motorhome project. I installed a 12 volt vacuum pump and connected the Air conditioner/heater controls to it. The controls now work consistently regardless of fluctuations in engine vacuum.

Sunday Sept 27 2015

I did another upgrade to the motorhome today. I installed a surround sound speaker system to the front driving seat area. We can now hear the radio clearly while driving. It works especially well when listening to audio books.

In the evening we had a fair well cookout with the family, tomorrow Millie and I depart for Colorado and new adventures!